7:00 p.m. Film highlights from the Museum's 2008 Apollo 8 lecture

7:30 p.m. Meet the Lecturer

8:00 p.m. Lecture

9:00 p.m. Telescope viewing, weather permitting

In July 2011, the Dawn spacecraft will begin to orbit Vesta, the second most massive object in the asteroid belt. Studies from afar show tantalizing clues suggesting Vesta is a fascinating world that experienced volcanic activity and a huge impact event. Learn all about Dawn and how we will study the surface of Vesta in this lecture presented only weeks before the spacecraft arrives at this previously unseen world.
 
Carle Pieters is a Co-Investigator on the Dawn mission. She is a Professor of Geological Sciences at Brown University and was the Principal Investigator for the Moon Mineralogy Mapper on the Chandrayaan-1, India’s first lunar spacecraft.